Yet to start in the first seven months of the 2014 season, New York-bred mare Dayatthespa was not on any short lists for an Eclipse Award. By the time she crossed the finish line in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) at Santa Anita Park following an authoritative front-running triumph, however, it was apparent she had distanced herself from the others.
The division was so open that four others, including defending female turf Eclipse champion Dank, would have had a legitimate claim to the crown with victory in the Filly & Mare Turf. But none could catch the Chad Brown-trained Dayatthespa, who dictated the pace for jockey Javier Castellano to open a two-length advantage midstretch in her first try at the 1 1/4-mile distance. The 5-year-old daughter of City Zip strode home gamely under urging at 11-2 odds to score by 1 1/4 lengths over her late-running stablemate, Stephanie’s Kitten, in a time of 2:00.12 over a course rated good.
Dayatthespa won the final three of a four-race campaign in 2014, which began with a runner-up finish in the restricted Fasig-Tipton De La Rose Stakes Aug. 2 at Saratoga Race Course, the race venue for which she was named. The powerful chestnut with a long white blaze then dominated Saratoga’s Yaddo Stakes for state-breds before setting the table for her Breeders’ Cup effort with a 1 1/4-length tally in the one-mile First Lady Stakes (gr. IT) at Keeneland.
She earned $1.45 million during the season for owners Jerry Frankel, Ronald Frankel, Steve Laymon, and Bradley Thoroughbreds. Dayatthespa defeated finalists Crown Queen and Stephanie’s Kitten in the Eclipse voting.
Bred by Castellare DiCracchiolo Stable, Cracchiolo, and Goldsher out of the Doc’s Leader mare M’Lady Doc, Dayatthespa also had a grade I victory at Keeneland in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup in 2012.
Her career line after four years of racing stands at 11 wins and four seconds in 18 starts with earnings of $2,288,892. Two days after her Breeders’ Cup win, Dayatthespa sold for $2.1 million to Barbara Banke during the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale and will be bred to Curlin this season.
Read more on BloodHorse.com: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/89644/dayatthespa-earns-female-turf-eclipse#ixzz3PTVDKt7B
